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[Death1942]

so i survived my first winter (yay).  my fort is scrappy at best but i managed to hit quite a few ores and gems on the 2nd level (only used for mining currently).  i am pretty happy with how things have turned out so far but i have had problems with trading.
1st traders that arrived (in any game that i have played) i stuffed up by not making enough stuff to get to 1000 wealth (i needed an Anvil).  next year i had a tonne of crafts ready but the Elves came and they refused to take my wood items (i only learned they refuse wooded items later  ).  1 year has gone by and still no migrants.  i am a little worried as my 7 dwarves are having one hell of a hard time trying to keep up with all that needs to be done. 

anyone know why i might not be attracting migrants?  or when the next caravan with an anvil in it will arrive?

[Khain]

Get one of your dwarves engraving some walls to help boost the value of your fortress, that should help.

[Eater of Vermin]

Don't bother trying to pull in migrants or traders.  They'll come soon enough anyway. 

So long as you've already established a constant food and liquor supply and given the dwarves a nice dining hall to consume them in, things'll be fine.  Smoothing and engraving will bump the fort value and help to attract new immigrants, but the best place to do this work is in the dining hall.  Your dwarves will forgive almost everything; sleeping on the floor, abundant vermin or miasma, even the slaughter of their spouses and children, if only their dining hall is high enough quality!   

You're in the second year?  Gobbos'll soon start to turn up.  I reckon it's pointless to draft any of your starting seven into the military, instead keep 'em all working at getting the fort started.  In the early stages, the best defense  (although the least fun) is to simply have only one entrance into your fort and lock the front door when the gobbos show up.  They'll soon get bored and go away in search of someone else to play with. 

As ya already know, concentrating on wood crafts wasn't a good idea.  Wood is really better used elsewhere, such as in making beds, barrels or charcoal.  Instead, set up one of your seven to make rock crafts.  Rock is abundant, after all, and no traders turn their noses up at it.

As a rule of thumb you'll get one caravan per season, except for winter.  This varies, of course.  You'll also get a liaison with each nearby civ, when that civ's caravan finally shows up.  You'll be able to arrange for the next caravan from that civ to include an anvil, if that civ has any available.

Once ordered, you'll have a year to set up your smelters, forges, etc and stock up a good supply of charcoal and ore, so that when the caravan finally shows up you'll have everything on hand to kick your metal industry into high gear straight away.  Well...  as high a gear as dabblers can get it, anyway.     (The first one or two dwarf/human caravans usually have one in stock anyway, BTW.)

In short: make sure you have food, booze and some way to lock out any hostiles.  So long as your dwarves have the basics, everything else will come along with time.   [fingers Xed]